Leader of Nigerian Extremist sect dies

The leader of an Islamic sect blamed for days of deadly violence in Nigeria has been killed in police custody, police officials have said. Officials said Mohammed Yusuf was shot while trying to escape. They had announced his capture hours earlier. Mr Yusuf led Boko Haram, which wants to overthrow the government and impose a strict version of Islamic law. Hundreds of people have died in five days of clashes between his followers and security forces. Mr Yusuf was held and later shot in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri. Mohammed Yusuf was killed by security forces in a shootout while trying to escape, the regional police assistant inspector-general, Moses Anegbode, told Nigerian television. It is thought more than 300 people have died in the violence - some estimates say 600, although there has been no official confirmation. Mr Yusuf was a 39-year-old preacher from Yobe state, who had four wives and 12 children. His sect, Boko Haram, is against Western education. It believes Nigeria's government is being corrupted by Western ideas and wants to see Islamic law imposed across Nigeria. Sharia law is in place across northern Nigeria, but there is no history of al-Qaeda-linked violence. The country's 150 million people are split almost equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.